A la Mode Pies opening in Phinney on Thursday

A la Mode Pies opens its first café on Thursday morning at 5821 Phinney Ave. N. We got a sneak peek — and taste — on Monday night, as the pie cafe invited friends and media to drop in.

A la Mode Pies previously operated out of a borrowed kitchen on Capitol Hill for its pie delivery business. Owner Chris Porter is now moving baking operations to the Phinney Ridge cafe, which is directly across the street from the playground next to the Woodland Park Zoo. Customers can purchase pie by the slice, along with a cup of coffee and scoop of Bluebird Microcreamery ice cream (which also recently moved into Phinney Ridge), or full pies or containers of ice cream to take home.

A la Mode offers about 10-12 flavors of pie at any one time, with seasonal variations rotating in and out. Current pies on their website include Apple & Ginger Pear, Bourbon Butterscotch, Key Lime, Lemon Macaroon, Blue Hawaiian, Chocolate Caramel Pecan, French Apple, Marionberry & Hazelnut, Mexican Chocolate Mousse, and White Chocolate Banana Cream. They also had Cherry at last night’s tasting, and LolliPies (which got a thumbs up from the PhinneyWood Kid).

The cafe offers a couple of small tables, plus counter seating.

You can even watch pies being made through the large windows behind the counter.

The cafe also sells merchandise such as pie platters and serving utensils, and T-shirts.